Norway

Online travel market

Travel planning

VisitNorway probably thought it was just creating a bit of fun for visitors to its site, like so many other companies that produce simple web games. But something incredible happened to the tourist board's Holmenkollen ski jump game.

The game, which sees users vie against each other to jump the furthest on the classic winter sports event, went viral - a genuine "viral" hit rather than a game or video that has only just hit the internet and is being plugged as "viral".

The game was promoted on VisitNorway, with links published on the DMO's Facebook page and other social networks - nothing particularly unusual about that. But, as manager Hans Petter Aalmo now says, the simplicity of the game, coupled with how ridiculously addictive it is, triggered something in the ether to push it beyond expectations.

Not only did "hundreds of thousands" of people play the game, but they shared results with friends on social networks and challenged each other to play again and again.

But then something very interesting happened. Some players started to capture their winning entries on video and then upload the clips to YouTube. This might seem strange to many, but it inevitably managed to push the game to an even wider audience. Here is an example: this particular clip currently has close to 50,000 views on YouTube - double the number of views to the VisitNorway YouTube channel. This enthusiasm for watching an animated clip wasn't a one-off - there are plenty of other clips from other users boasting about their record breaking jumps, many with over 25,000 views.

Speaking at the OpenTravel Alliance event in London in November 2010, Aalmo says such was the popularity of the game that the organisation discovered some enterprising hackers had managed to get into the system and manipulate their scores. But when asked if such naughty behaviour was frowned upon, given that the game probably also benefited from buzz amongst hackers, Aalmo doges the question initially before saying with wry smile:"If people want to hack into our game then that's fine." (tnooz - talking travel tech, November 2010)

Information searches on travel and accommodation via the internet have increased from 52 to 68% in Norway in the last year. (Statistics Norway, September 2010)

Travel booking

The total share of the population that has bought or ordered goods or services for private use over the Internet during the last 12 months in Norway has slightly increased to 71%. Travel and holiday accommodation are the most bought or ordered goods over the internet in the last 12 months, with a total of 7 out of 10 internet users doing so in 2010. This is an increase of 8 percentage points compared to the previous year. (Statistics Norway, September 2010)

The average broadband capacity for private subscriptions increased to 10.4 Mbit/s in the second quarter of 2011.

The broadband penetration rate in private households is 73%; an increase from 72% in the previous quarter. Compared to last year there is an increase from 71%. The figure for private broadband subscriptions per 100 households varies between 79% in the county of Akershus and 59% in the county of Finnmark.

The most central municipalities have the highest number of broadband subscriptions relative to the number of households. While the number of broadband subscriptions relative to the number of households is 75 per cent, the corresponding figure for less central municipalities is 64%. (Statistics Norway, September 2011)

Access to mobile broadband is becoming more and more common in Norway, increasing from 22 to 34% during the last year, according to Statistics Norway. (Statistics Norway, July 2011)

Mobile Devices

Mobile / Smartphones

One in four people in Norway had access to the internet by mobile connection via a 3G handset in the second quarter of 2011, according to Statistics Norway. (Statistics Norway, July 2011)